To provide patient shielding of non-treatment areas bordering a treatment zone of the patient during radiation therapy, a shield device may be located on the patient. The shield device has a plurality of interconnected and overlapping elements, e.g. in a scale maille arrangement, that forms a conformal sheet that can be laid over the shielded portion of the patient, e.g. over the contralateral breast during breast cancer treatment. The edge of the scale maille sheet is substantially configurable and can be made to conform to the field edge of the treatment zone on the patient.